


Giving The Gay Pep Talk

by Bam4Me



Series: The Big Ageplay Guns [11]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Daddy!Rhodey, Little!Tony, M/M, No actual ageplay in this fic though, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:18:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7066759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain America and the Winter Soldier are public figures now. Public figures naturally insight change and admiration.</p>
<p>Well, they say, be the change you want to see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Giving The Gay Pep Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is a little cute, but almost entirely plotless. Sorry not sorry.
> 
> avengersnonsexualageplay.tumblr.com

Steve and Bucky were amazing people. Tony could see why his father had been so obsessed with finding them in the end.

 

The good Captain was a treat to take with you into interviews every once in awhile. He was just so good and wholesome, and he fumbled with his words in the cutest way. If Tony Stark wasn’t a taken man, he’d probably fall for the giant stupid lug.

 

Rhodey had made better friends with Bucky than Tony had, but he says the man has a sharp eye and a sharper tongue, and Rhodey appreciated the dry humor. Of course he would, because Rhodey was a boring adult and thought things could  _ possibly _ be funny if they weren’t a cartoon. Tony doesn’t think that’s possible.

 

But, there is one thing that Tony’s noticed. They could get pretty close to each other while sitting on the couch in the tower, but as soon as they were in public, they acted like they barely knew each other as more than friends.

 

Tony wondered what that was about.

 

Steve and Bucky were in the living room, Steve reading a book in the center of the couch, with Bucky pressed against his side while the metal armed man texted with his right hand. Tony still hadn’t fully been able to fix the fact that his metal arm was a little  _ strong _ for a touch phone, but he thinks he’s making progress with a field ready cell phone with buttons, in case he accidentally breaks the flesh and bone one.

 

“How come you two act all cold towards each other in public?”

 

Tony seemed to have startled the two of them, before flopping down onto the couch cushion next to Steve, before squeaking when that immediately sent him sprawling into the giant’s side, because Steve was fucking massive and all the weight was tipping in his favor. Both Steve and Bucky looked amused while Tony tried to scramble back another foot to keep that from happening again. Steve bit his lip, exchanging the most  _ amused _ look with Bucky before turning to look at the glowering engineer again. Tony was pressed into the far corner of the couch now, both socked feet up on the couch in front of him to keep his balance. “We don’t act  _ cold _ towards each other, Tony.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, leaning back now, “Well, you don’t act like  _ boyfriends _ .”

 

The super soldiers both flinched, and Tony’s eyebrows pulled together. “Is this some kinda internal homophobia thing? Because, I firmly believe that you have the right to any insecurities you have, and all that, but I also kinda agree with therapists that say that’s the sort of thing you need to get worked out, because even if it’s only internal, it fosters a bad sense of self, and usually leads to  _ external _ homophobia towards other people, and like, more than half the people living here swing towards their own gender, so that’s a thing I don’t want here.”

 

Bucky and Steve were giving him blank looks, “Huh?”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “I just wanna know if I should schedule you two for therapy appointments or something.”

 

Steve sighed, putting his book down finally. He looked like he was talking to a particularly stupid child, and it made Tony bristle a little bit on the inside. He wasn’t an idiot, just because he rambled a lot doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a fucking brain. “Tony, we kind of grew up in a time period, where you were  _ arrested _ for being gay. It’s not internal homophobia or whatever you might be thinking, it’s natural reaction for us to not be so close in public.”

 

Tony thought about that for a minute. “...hmm… that’s… fucked up. You know, nothing will happen if you’re together now days.”

 

Bucky nodded against Steve’s bicep. “Yeah, kinda hard to completely change like that overnight.”

 

Steve’s brown pulled together for a moment. “Wouldn’t you have gotten a bit of that for dating Rhodey in the eighties as well? I mean, not arrested bad, but still pretty bad.”

 

Tony shrugged. That was kind of a hard one to answer. His parents and Obadiah had been pretty good at keeping him from assholes like that. He felt like he’d just stepped into a cold shower at the thought of Obie, but he shook that off, pulling over a view screen on the table. There were consoles and screens scattered all around the Avenger’s living quarters for people to use. “Not really. I mean, Rhodey’s black, and we’re queer, so we got plenty of slurs thrown around, and we weren’t stupid enough to go down any dark alleys at night, but I’ve been a public figure since before I knew the meaning of the words. People took pictures of us doing things as mundane as walking to class. Hell, the paparazzi knew we were dating before  _ we _ knew we were dating. We were more… we were people’s inspiration. People like us…”

 

He trailed off, typing something into the console before turning the page for Steve and Bucky to see. He’d googled, ‘tony stark, james rhodes, teenagers’ and they could already see the page full of pictures. There was no shortage of invasive photos of the two underage boys.

 

Bucky pulled his phone back over and started typing on it again, but Steve just looked a little pissed. “People actually pay for that garbage? I still can’t believe that people have made an entire  _ living _ off of invading other people’s lives like this.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes, “That’s not my point, Cap. Thing is, yeah, that fucking sucks. I haven’t had much privacy since I was a baby, more of my life has been broadcasted on tv without my permission than I care to  _ think _ about, but that’s the point. I never got the chance for privacy. I never got the chance to grow up quietly without anyone else messing with my life before it was fully started.”

 

Steve shook his head, “If me and Bucky had been in the public eye like this as kids-”

 

“You’d have been lynched. Arrested, probably tortured after years in prison. And I’m not going to even get started on what would have happened to you in there. It wouldn’t have been a good thing.”

 

Steve looked a little like he wanted to cry, and Tony felt bad for making him upset, but he went on. “Steve, back then, you were a tiny little kid from Brooklyn who wouldn’t have had a chance to protect yourself. Now, though? You’re literally the unofficial symbol of America. You’re the symbol of change and hope, of freedom and happiness. If Captain America is ashamed of who he is, then the world will take that to mean America itself is ashamed. I don’t think I have to tell you what happens when America is afraid, you’ve seen that for yourself.”

 

Steve did look the slightest bit inspired, though he still had a bit of a scowl on his face. “Tony, why does it even matter what people know about my personal life?”

 

Tony grinned, “Don’t you know, Captain? You don’t tell people your personal life, you wear it on you like armor. A man and a woman can walk down any street holding hands and people call them loving. When two women do it, they call it friendship. But when two men do it, they call it disgusting. You wear that on you like armor, because you  _ are _ America right now, you wear that on you like armor, and just fucking watch how fast this country starts changing their minds. This country is a bunch of celebrity obsessed idiots, they all want to do what’s popular. You hold a man’s hand, and they’ll stop thinking of it as ‘different’ and start thinking of it as ‘popular’. I’m not saying this is going to be easy. Me and Rhodey had more advantages than most people do, and it was still shit on us for the most part, but you need to be the change you want to see.”

 

“Anthony Edward Stark, are you trying to give Steve a gay pep talk?”

 

Tony looked behind them to see Rhodey coming into the room, looking disapproving. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

 

Rhodey crossed his arms, “Nothing’s  _ wrong _ with it, I just wanted to be the one to do it.”

 

There was a crashing noise, and Clint came skidding into the room behind Rhodey, nearly knocking them both on their asses. “Bucky says you’re showing them baby pictures, I wanna see too!”

 

Clint practically crawled over Tony on the couch so he was sitting between him and Steve, which made Steve amused, but Tony was grumbling. Natasha was coming into the room behind them, politely sitting a respectable distance from Bucky on the other side of the couch. Rhodey slid into the spot directly behind Tony, pulling the grumbling engineer into his chest. They all looked at Tony expectantly. Tony rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, I’m not even showing you guys pictures from our personal collection. I promise you, you guys can find a  _ lot _ more on google.”

 

Clint sighed and pulled the console towards him, before getting an amused look on his face. “Wait, I have a better idea, hey, Jarvis? You should show us your favorite pictures of Tony and Rhodey as kids. I’m sure you have a much better collection than google does.”

 

Tony let out a squawking noise as Jarvis answered, sounding far too amused. That’s cheating. “It would be my pleasure.”

 

Instead of the console flickering on again, the TV wall turned on. Oh great, that means big pictures. The first picture, was something that made Tony groan. “No no, I think Jarvis is picking on us, this isn’t fair at all.”

 

The first picture actually… actually, Tony had to catch his breath for a second. It was a picture of him and Rhodey back in college, him all small and shirmpy, too skinny wearing bright ugly clashing colours… sitting between Rhodey’s legs, just like they were now. The two of them didn’t look like they even noticed their picture being taken, too focused on something Tony was doing in a notebook, and for once, Tony was honestly calm in the picture, which is so so unlike how he remembers himself as a teen.

 

Everyone seemed to put two and two together, and turned to look at Tony and Rhodey now on the couch. Steve snorted.

 

“I guess some things don’t change much.”

 

Tony shrugged, snuggling back against Rhodey’s chest. “Why change what’s already perfect?”

**Author's Note:**

> avengersnonsexualageplay.tumblr.com


End file.
